Santa Margarita makes it a special ending winning CIF SoCal Regional championship

Santa Margarita players and coaches celebrate after winning the CIF Division I title. (Photos: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).

Saturday’s CIF SoCal Regional Division I baseball championship game pitted top-seeded Santa Margarita against the No. 2 seeded La Costa Canyon, a seemingly perfect ending to the high school baseball season.

The game at Santa Margarita was filled with pressure situations, great pitching, clutch hitting, errors, hit batsmen, baserunning gaffes and controversial rulings and when it was all said and done the Eagles captured their first state regional championship in the school’s history with a 3-2 victory over La Costa Canyon, the No. 1 ranked San Diego Section team.

Bryce Humphry’s two-run single in the fourth inning proved to be the difference as Santa Margarita (29-7) rebounded from a tough loss to JSerra in the CIF Division 1 final two weeks ago.

“This is what it is all about,” said Eagles Coach Chris Malec, after receiving a liquid bath from his players following the win. “It felt great. There were pressure situations and this is a testament to these guys and how hard they worked their tails off. After we lost to JSerra in the CIF final, they rose to the occasion. This is an amazing accomplishment for the school, the fans, the community and I couldn’t be happier for the players.”

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After La Costa Canyon tied the score at 1-1 in the top of the fourth following Kalen Applefield’s solo home run blast to right center, the Eagles rallied to take the lead in their home half of the inning.

Luke Lavin, a Stanford commit, led off with a single to right. One out later, Drew Rutter (San Diego State commit) followed with a single to right center, with Lavin stopping at second. Tyler Ankrum was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Humphry then delivered a clutch two-run single, scoring Lavin and Rutter to give Santa Margarita a 3-1 lead.

“I tried to make it simple by looking for my pitch and delivering for my teammates,” said Humphry. “After losing to JSerra, we wanted to show everyone that we are still capable of winning it all and sticking a banner on the wall.”

However, the last three innings would prove to be nerve wracking for both teams, but the Eagles relievers would come through. 

The first two Mavericks batters walked to start the fifth. The Eagles then brought in reliever Chris Saucedo. One out later, Hayden Kline drilled an RBI double to left center that scored Gabe Camacho, but Nolan Farley was held at third base. Saucedo came up big as he retired the next two hitters on infield groundouts to end the rally.

“I was nervous when I came in and I was missing my spots at first,” said Saucedo, who pitched 2 and 1/3 innings of relief and gave up only one hit. “I used my fastball and my brothers played amazing defense to get us out of the inning.”

Saucedo walked the first La Costa Canyon (26-7) batter in the sixth inning, but then got Matt Pucschel to ground into a 4-6-3 double play.

He followed by retiring James Theodore on a ground out to end the inning. Saucedo got the first out in the seventh, but an errant infield throw allowed Farley to reach first. Malec brought in Sammy Cova to pitch and he retired Applefield on a fly to right for the second out.

Malec then went to the bullpen again, bringing in Brennan Bauer who got Kline to pop out to short to end the game and give Santa Margarita its state regional championship.

“I was nervous but confident,” said Cova. “We stuck to the plan and made the play.”

Bauer also was a bit nervous.

“I was really anxious, but I told the coach, ‘I got this’,” said Bauer. “When I saw Zach (Fjelstad) squeeze that last out I was excited and I knew we had finished the job, like we’ve been doing all season.”

The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Blake Wilson singled and moved to second on a controversial balk call. Lavin stroked a shot that Mavericks second baseman knocked down and threw to first, however Lavin was called safe (also a controversial call). Wilson, hustling on the play, scored from second.

“I think we were more resilient than they were; we wanted it more than them,” said Lavin, who had two hits and was on base three times.

“It’s a special win and it’s been a special season,” said Wilson, who also had two hits and is committed to the University of Washington. “It was our goal to win the last game of the season and leave a legacy.”

Hayden George started the game for Santa Margarita and pitched well, giving up two hits and one run in four innings of work.  

The Mavericks had their chances for big innings but came up short. They left the bases loaded in the second and fourth innings and were only able to score one run. 

La Costa coach Justin Machade said his team had its chances.

“We had scoring opportunities and we didn’t get it done,” Machade said. “They’re a solid team. We’ve had a great season. We won the prestigious Lions Tournament in San Diego, won our league and won a CIF title. This team has done everything we’ve ask them to do.”

—Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone